Classroom lesson 路 Sport馃嚦馃嚨 Nepal

Cricket - Nepal's surprise favourite sport

A whole country watching their team chase wickets and runs

Children playing cricket on a dusty pitch with the Himalayas in the background

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

Cricket is one of the most-loved sports in Nepal. It is played in school yards, on dusty city pitches, on flat terraces in mountain villages, and on the national team's official ground. When Nepal's team plays a big match, huge crowds gather around TVs in cafes and restaurants to cheer them on.

Tell me more

Cricket is a game between two teams of eleven players. One team bats - hitting the ball as far as they can - and the other team bowls and fields, trying to stop the runs. It can be played in a quick 'T20' format that lasts a few hours, or a long format that lasts several days.

Nepal's national cricket team has surprised the world more than once. They have beaten much bigger teams from much bigger countries. Their fans are known for their amazing energy - one of the loudest cricket crowds anywhere - even when their team is the underdog.

In a country like Nepal, where flat land is precious, kids often play cricket in whatever space they can find. A narrow alley becomes a cricket pitch. A rolled-up sock becomes a ball. A flat piece of wood is a bat. The whole game adapts to wherever you are.

Almost every Nepali school has a cricket team. Children practise after school and play matches against other schools at weekends. Some of Nepal's top international players started this way - hitting balls in a dusty schoolyard before the world ever heard of them.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01Cricket came to Nepal from far away. What sports popular in your country actually came from somewhere else?
  2. 02Nepali kids play cricket wherever there's space - even tiny alleys. What's a game your friends play in unusual places?
  3. 03When a small country beats a big one, what does that say about the small country?
Try this

Classroom activity

Try a quick game of 'playground cricket' with a soft ball and a flat stick or rolled-up paper bat. Take turns batting and bowling. Talk afterwards about how the rules change when you adapt the game to your space.